Implications of Mobile Trends on Digital Signage
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Transcript of Implications of Mobile Trends on Digital Signage
8/7/2019 Implications of Mobile Trends on Digital Signage
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Trends In Mobility
and the Implicationson Digital Signage
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White Paper: Trends in Mobility and the Implications on Digital Signage
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................. 1
Mobile Voice - The First Mobile Revolution ............................................... 2
Personal Productivity - The Second Revolution ........................................ 3
Personal Impact - The Third Revolution .................................................... 5
Mobility’s Impact on Digital Signage ........................................................ 9
What’s to Come .......................................................................................... 11
Summary ..................................................................................................... 12
About The Author ....................................................................................... 13
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Introduction
It could be said that digital signage is a twenty-first century
technology whose value can only be truly quantified by using 1950’s
measurement methodologies. The great paradox of digital signage is
this: In today’s signage networks, content is designed using
sophisticated software; managed through intricate scheduling
systems; delivered over sophisticated networks; run on
technologically advanced media players; presented on state-of-the-
art monitors; to be seen and acted upon by? . . . well, your guess is as
good as mine!
In an age where Internet advertisers can target and measure
audiences with exacting detail, the best a digital signage network operator can typically do is to determine whether or not someone
looked at the screen. If a signage operator wants any details
beyond that, surveys and questionnaires must be employed – a
throw-back to the 1950s.
Sure, one may be tempted to propose a scenario wherein an
operator could tie their digital signage system into a point-of-sale or
inventory system and then apply sophisticated analytic models to
quantify the business impact of signage viewership. Possible-yes; but
not an easy model to scale due to the extensive skills and resources
required to pull it off. One may also be tempted to point out that
viewership can be quantified via visual recognition systems that can
tell an operator/advertiser the sex and approximate age of a viewer.
This is true, but unfortunately, few, if any, recognition systems can tell
the operator/advertiser whether the content prompted a response
and then go on to quantify the business impact of the resulting
response. This is a big problem. Just look at the newspaper industry.Centuries-old journalistic icons are closing their doors because they
cannot measure who views and then acts upon their ads. Gone are
the days when rough approximations of viewership were satisfactory.
Does this then foretell of a potentially limited future for digital
signage? The logical conclusion would have to be, ―yes‖ — u nless…
It could be said that digital signage is a twenty-first century
technology whose value can onlybe truly quantified by using 1950’s
measurement methodologies.
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―Unless what?‖ Unless the same systems that design, manage, and
deliver content to the digital signage can also track what viewers do
in response to a call to action . ―How is this possible?‖ One potential
scenario would suggest that viewer tracking, including call-to-action
monitoring, can be achieved by marrying digital signage content
management systems with emerging mobile technologies.
It is clear that rapidly evolving trends in mobile communications are
facilitating the aforementioned convergence of digital signage with
mobile technologies. However, before one can understand the
significance of these trends and the implications on digital signage,
one has to look back and understand the history of modern mobile
communications before one can look forward.
Mobile Voice - The First Mobile Revolution
Over thirty-five years ago in 1973, the first cellular telephone call was
made by Martin Cooper of Motorola to engineers at Bell Labs. This
call ushered in the beginning of a revolution – a revolution in which
the average consumer could communicate without wires. Ten years
later in 1983, Motorola released the 16-ounce DynaTAC cell phone
(affectionately known as ―the brick‖) , which marked the beginning of
truly portable mobile communications.
Between 1983 and 1989 wireless carriers focused on building out their
networks and adding subscribers. As they did so, the price of ―talk
time‖ began to drop. As the prices came down, more people
purchased cellular service, and by 1990 there were one million
cellular subscribers. It is interesting to note however, that although it
took over 17 years for the U.S. cellular industry to reach its first one
million subscribers; today ’s global market adds over one million
subscribers in less than a day .
In the late eighties, telecom engineers began working on new
network technologies that would vastly increase the number of
subscribers that could simultaneously use a network. This
development would go on to further reduce the cost of cellular
service, and would also help to enable wireless carriers to offer new
The first cellular phone call in 1973ushered in a communications revolution. Recent trends inmobile communications areushering in a revolution in the
convergence of mobility anddigital signage.
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capabilities to enhance the mobile communications experience for
their subscribers.
By the early nineties, telecom engineers were testing the second
generation of mobile networks. The first generation network was
based upon analog, circuit switched technologies; while this second
generation was based upon digital technologies. It was significant
that these new digital networks offered the promise of allowing users
to communicate data as well as voice. In fact, in 1992 the first text
message was sent to demonstrate the data capability of these new
digital networks.
It became clear in the early nineties that these new networks would
need additional wireless spectrum to accommodate the increasingnumber of subscribers and the full range of anticipated services. The
US Congress, recognizing a money-making opportunity, passed
legislation to allow the FCC to hold auctions to sell wireless spectrum
to existing carriers as well as new entrants. So in 1995, the first of
many wireless spectrum auctions was conducted. The US Treasury
raked in billions of dollars for what up until then had been given
away. Hundreds of new would-be telecom carriers sprang up
virtually overnight. It was now a 20 th century gold rush and the
beginning of the second major revolution in mobility.
Personal Productivity – The Second Revolution
By 1996, a plethora of new wireless carriers had become actively
engaged in building out second generation networks. At the same
time, a company out of California named US Robotics, was bringing
to market what was to become the first commercially viable PDA – a
trend-setting device known as the Palm Pilot. Although not the first
PDA, (early entrants included the Apple Newton, the Motorola Envoy,
etc), the Palm Pilot became the first commercially successful PDA.
Concurrent with the release of the Palm, the Internet and email were
beginning to increase in popularity. By the late nineties, a broad
array of companies were beginning to actively look at merging
wireless connectivity with PDAs – mostly as email appliances.
By the late nineties, a broad arrayof companies were beginning toactively look at merging wireless
connectivity with PDA’s.
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1999 marked a milestone year in mobile communications. Palm
introduced the Palm VII wireless PDA, Research in Motion (RIM)
introduced the first Blackberry, and one of the first on-line mobile
application stores, Palm Market (now Handango), was introduced.
Twenty-six years after the first cell phone call, and four years after the
first wireless auction, people were sending text messages, checking
their email wirelessly, updating their calendars and downloading
applications. The pace of change was rapidly accelerating.
The new century started with a bang! The number of U.S. cellular
subscribers reached 100 million. By 2001, the first truly recognizable
―convergent device‖ hit the market – the Handspring Treo 180. A
device was considered ― convergent ‖ if it had cellular phone
capabilities coupled with email and PDA functionality all in one unit.
These convergent devices subsequently became known as
―smartphones.‖ (NOTE: Other manufacturers such as Nokia, Kyocera,
etc. had produced convergent devices ahead of to the Treo, but
Handspring was the first to make broad commercial inroads primarily
due to consumer familiarity with the Palm operating system on which
the Treo was based.)
Soon after the launch of the second generation networks, engineers
began actively working on the third generation (3G) of wireless
networks. These 3G networks were being engineered to support high-
speed, broadband data. This emphasis on data was viewed as
critical since it was universally believed that mobile email and mobile
Web users would ultimately develop insatiable appetites for
bandwidth.
2002 stood witness to the build-out of the first third-generation
network. Concurrent with the 3G build-out, handset manufacturerssuch as Handspring and RIM, were further strengthening their
positions as leaders in the emerging smartphone segment.
Handspring’s Treo 600 series quickly became a category leader in
consumer-oriented convergent devices and RIM ’s line of Blackberry
units was setting a standard as the preferred mobile email platform
1999 marked a milestone year inmobile communications. Palm
introduced the Palm VII wireless PDA,Research in Motion (RIM) introduced
the first Blackberry and one of the firston-line mobile application stores,Palm Market, was introduced
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for corporations. It should be noted that i t wasn’t long after the
launch of the first Treo that RIM infused voice into the Blackberry.
By 2005, U.S. cellular subscriber ranks had risen to 145 million. Text
messaging was beginning to rapidly grow, more handsets were
becoming 3G capable, and the smartphone segment was steadily
taking hold. The real change however came in 2007 when Apple, in
conjunction with AT&T, introduced the iPhone. This event marked the
beginning of the third revolution in mobility, and the harbinger of the
future for true digital signage/mobile device convergence.
Personal Impact - The Third Revolution
Prior to 2007 and the launch of the iPhone, wireless carriers generally
sought to control nearly everything that touched their networks. They
attempted to control the devices that went on their networks, the
applications that ran on their networks, the way the devices
accessed the networks, etc. One may ask why the carriers sought to
exercise such control. The answer is simple. The wireless carriers were
not about to repeat the mistakes of the inter-exchange carriers (i.e.,
the long distance companies) who from the late eighties through to
the early 2000 ’s, watched their revenues plummet as they became
nothing more than a ―pipe‖ for carrying v oice and data traffic at the
lowest possible price.
The Apple/AT&T alliance however changed everything. AT&T was
now allowing an outsider (Apple) to place a device on their network
that had near-unbridled access to the network and could do
everything from downloading content to mapping a user ’s location .
Things changed further in the summer of 2008 when Apple
announced the iTunes app store. Suddenly, seamless access to
content, to applications and all of the things that the applications
could do were now clearly in the domain of those besides the
carriers.
What prompted the change? The answer again is simple. It was a
matter of economics. From the very start of the cellular industry, a
carrier’s market value was determined by the number of net new
The introduction of the AppleiPhone in 2007 marked the
beginning of the third revolution in mobility – thePersonal Impact Revolution.
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subscribers that they added to their networks and the average
revenue that they derived from each subscriber. By 2007, especially
in the US, cellular penetration was reaching a point of near
saturation. As the market became more saturated and the carriers
began battling for a smaller pool of eligible customers, the price for
cellular service began to drop. As the price dropped, the average
revenue per subscriber began to decrease. It was clear that unless
revenue-per-subscriber could be driven back up, the carrier
valuations would decline as well. The answer as it turned out was ―in
the data‖.
In the thirty-plus years that the carriers controlled the networks, it
could be argued that rapid, break-through innovation on the
subscriber side of the equation had never been the carriers’ strong
suit. It cannot be known for sure, but one could speculate that the
carriers (particularly AT&T) finally recognized that if they were going
to dramatically increase data usage, they would need to ―let the
genie out of the bottle‖ — become ―pipe- like‖ and put innovation
into the hands of those who do it best. As it turned out, this was a
brilliant move – if, of course, this was their original intent.
As the iPhone set new standards in handset functionality and
application/network integration, data usage and average revenue
per user began to increase dramatically. AT&T’s subscriber roll s also
began to increase as the iPhone began to lure subscribers from other
networks. It was clear that consumers were gravitating to a new
usage-model in which the cell phone was more than just a
communications platform or utilitarian office device.
The evidence of this new cellular usage model could be easily seen
by examining the rapidity in which mobile applications had begun toplay a larger role in people’s lives . For example, between the late
1990’s and 2007, the users of mobile banking application totaled
about 400 thousand. After the 2008 launch of the iPhone app store,
the ranks of mobile banking users had swollen to nearly 4 million.
The increasing interest in mobile applications could be further seen as
the number of application downloads increased dramatically. As
It was clear that
consumers were
gravitating to new
usage-model in
which the cell phone
was more than just acommunications
platform.
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noted earlier, one of the first app stores came on line in the late
1990’s. In the nearly 10 years leading up to the 2008 launch of
Apple ’s iTunes app store, it has been estimated that less than 300
million smartphone applications had been downloaded – and that’s
for all carriers and all phone manufacturers. In the 10 months
following the launch of the Apple iTunes app store, over 1 billion
applications were downloaded – and that’s primarily for one
manufacturer’s (Apple’s) products.
So in terms of mobility’s third revolution , the iPhone, in less than two
years, has played a major role in facilitating a new way for people to
manage their lives. This represents an unprecedented pace of
change when compared to other events in the history of mobility.
Other carriers and device manufacturers who have stood witness to
this rapid change have begun to work feverishly to copy the
ingredients that have allowed AT&T, Apple and the iPhone to
redefine the rules:
1. Sophisticated handsets with the following features:
a. Multi-media Friendly Form Factor – A large, vivid screen with
touch attributes
b. Content Orientation – Content, including applications, as a
means to differentiate each experience
c. Application Interoperable – Applications that can leverage
functions of other applications
d. Commerce Centric – Tailored for mobile purchases of content
and other items
e. Location Aware – Allows applications to utilize a user’s
geographic position for making content more relevant
f.
WAN/LAN/PAN Enabled – Near ubiquitous access viapersonal, local and wide-area wireless network technologies
g. Desktop/Cloud Integrate – Leverage of content across many
platforms via information stored in centrally managed servers
In the 10 months
following the launch
of the Apple iTunes
app store, over 1
billion applications
were downloaded.
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2. A change in the carrier business model as manifest by a
willingness of the carriers to:
a. Step out of the way and let others manage innovation
b. Let network management disciplines serve as the primary
differentiator
c. Let network speed and scope serve as a supporting
differentiator
3. A large pool of innovative application developers creating for a
broad array of mobile app stores:
a. iTunes Application Store
b. Microsoft Mobile Marketplace
c. RIM/Blackberry App World
d. Nokia Ovi
e. Google Android App Store
f. Etc.
Thanks in large part to the Apple/AT&T alliance, the mobile phone
has become a platform for managing one’s life. Gone are the days
when the cell phone was used exclusively to talk, send emails and
text message. The third revolution mobile model will be focused on:
Mobile Commerce: The purchase of applications, digital content,
event tickets, etc.
Mobile Lifestyle: Health & wellness monitoring, personal finance
administration, education, etc
Mobile Entertainment: Music, videos, games, puzzles, books, etc.
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Mobility’s Impact on Digital Signage
Now that we have a common understanding of the history of mobility
and its future course of direction, let us look at where mobile/signage
convergence started and where it is going. Until about 2005, there
was very little linkage between digital signage and mobility.
However, as text message utilization began to grow, some of themore innovative digital signage operators started integrating SMS-
based calls-to-action into their signage content. In this SMS-based
model, a message is shown on the digital display that invites viewers
to text a code or keyword to a five digit SMS short code. Once the
viewer sends the code, then they then receive additional information
on their phone.
Unfortunately, SMS-based convergence, although very effective at
connecting consumers to signage, has yet to be widely deployed.One of the likely reasons for this is the added complexity connected
with managing Short Codes, managing the marketing programs and
managing utilization tracking. Perhaps another reason for lack of
mass adoption is the potential cost to viewers. Although many
cellular customers subscribe to plans that offer unlimited messages for
a fixed price, many consumers still pay for text messages on a per-
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transaction basis. Regardless of the impediments to mass
acceptance, SMS will continue to play a role in
convergence, but it will likely not be a major factor on a
large scale.
When one looks beyond SMS to the next level of
convergence, one has to consider the new ―personal
impact‖ model spawned by Apple and the iPhone. The
next level of convergence will need to make a seamless
connection between the individual’s multi -media
smartphone, their location, and the content that is
relevant to a point in time.
There are many possible scenarios as to how the personal impactmodel will affect convergence. Four likely scenarios are as follows:
Scenario 1 – Signage Promotes Applications
This scenario assumes that special purpose smartphone applications
will be written to enhance the visit experience to a venue and the
digital signage will promote the existence of the applications and
encourage signage viewers to download the applications. For
example, signage in a cookware department may encourage
patrons to download a special cookbook that contains recipes
tailored specifically for that store’s particular cookware.
Scenario 2 – Signage Promotes a Web Connection
This scenario assumes that special purpose mobile web sites will be
written to augment content presented on the digital signage. For
example, a consumer/patron/guest enters a venue where they are
presented high-level information on the digital signage. The signage
then refers them to a mobile web site for more detailed information
and interactive opportunities.
Scenario 3 – Signage Promotes Geo-Tagged Content
This scenario assumes that content within an existing or potentially
new geo-tagging application is extended to include information
relevant to a location(s) where digital signage is installed. For
Due to its growing adoption, textmessaging will continue to play a
role in convergence.
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example, signage could encourage people to launch their geo-
tagging application on their smartphone to view more information
about what is being presented on the screen. NOTE: A geo-tagging
application uses the GPS capabilities of a mobile handset to link the
device’s longitude and latitude coordinates to specific content.
Scenario 4 – Signage Content and the Mobile Handset Work In
Harmony
This scenario assumes that the same content management system
that directs digital assets to the digital signage also directs content to
the handset. It assumes further that there is a tight linkage between
what the viewer sees on the screen and what appears on their
handset. For example, the signage presents its message and theninvites viewers to use their mobile phone to view more information
pertaining to the message. Both messages – those presented on the
digital signage screen and the mobile device – are supplied by same
content management system. The message and the digital assets
are tightly integrated.
What’s to Come
The evidence suggests that innovation will flourish over the next two
years just as it has over the past two. Since it is very difficult to predict
the winners in a rapidly changing game, it is not easy to say which
convergent scenario will become the most dominant. It is however a
safe bet to put your confidence in any convergent technology that
leverages one content management system to design, schedule and
deliver content to both the handset and to the big screen
simultaneously. A single content management system that directs
content to both the mobile device and the big screen provides many
advantages. Digital assets can be leveraged across platforms, the
accounting of content delivery can be managed as one process
and integration of messages can be optimized for cross-platform
delivery – meaning content on the wall can be static while the
content on the mobile device can be dynamic and interactive.
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Summary
Although cellular technology has been in existence for over 35 years,
it is just starting to hit the vertical slope of its growth path. Carrier
business models, network technology, application technology, and
handset capabilities have now matured to the point that cellular
handsets are becoming crucial for all dimensions of an individual’s
life. These technological advancements have further enhanced the
mobile handset’s ability to integrate with more mature techn ologies
such as digital signage. The convergence of digital signage withsmartphones will enable digital signage operators to actively monitor
viewership, and at the same time, help shape the viewership
experience on a personal level.
**********
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About The Author
Steve Gurley is the Vice President of Marketing and Business
Development for Symon Communications, Inc., an industry leading
digital signage and visual communications solutions company. Prior
to joining Symon, Steve spent eight years as the CEO of Pyrim
Technologies, Inc., a mobility-focused business development firm that
he founded in 2000. Before founding Pyrim, Steve was with Electronic
Data Systems (EDS) where he held executive positions in business
development and sales and was responsible for growing EDS’
business within the wireless industry throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Mr. Gurley was also responsible for founding and overseeing EDS’s
wireless data and mobile solutions consulting practice.
You can follow Steve’s views on mobile trends as well as his
observations on the convergence of mobile communications and
digital signage by visiting his blog at www.steve-gurley.com. You can
also follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/steve_gurley. If you
would like to see the latest convergent innovation with which Steve
has been associated, please visit www.symon.com/future.shtml.